The Spoonpluggers Forum

Kraig and others,

My name is Dennis Davidson and I am new to Spoonplugging. I gave it a shot 15 years ago, but was unable to put in the effort necessary. I have more time an Wisconsin is now allows trolling in far more lakes.

Anyway, I discovered a lake near my home, Tishigan Lake in Racine County, that has great water color and I can actually troll the shallows (weeds pretty much stop around 4-5 feet). Unusual around here. I have had some great success on nice northerns in the 27" to 31" range on the primary breakline that occurs around 10'.

I read this thread on Sunday and it reminded me to do as the book says. I went out Monday, and of course went right to the primary breakline in search of my northerns. They were not there. I thought I might as well practice my shallow trolling and began by running a 400. Within minutes I caught an 15" LM Bass. I continued on and about a 1/4 mile I hooked landed a 35" northern. She came out of 4.5 fow. I continued on and caught 3 more northerns between 24" and 29".

Thanks for keeping my head in the game.

Dennis

Welcome to the board Dennis. Good to have you back to Spoonplugging.

Buck always warned us to "never assume where the fish have to be". Another great hand rule of his, and he had many. Funny how we tend to forget that point!

Glad you found them.

Welcome to the forum Dennis. Buck emphasized fishing shallow to deep EVERY time, i.e. don't assume where the fish will be.

There I nothing like catching a few fish to re-enforce what you read. Catching fish does become distracting sometimes when you're trying to practice something.

Congrats and keep it up
Morning

ltharley wrote:Kraig and others,
My name is Dennis Davidson and I am new to Spoonplugging. I gave it a shot 15 years ago, but was unable to put in the effort necessary. I have more time an Wisconsin is now allows trolling in far more lakes.
Anyway, I discovered a lake near my home, Tishigan Lake in Racine County, that has great water color and I can actually troll the shallows (weeds pretty much stop around 4-5 feet). Unusual around here. I have had some great success on nice northerns in the 27" to 31" range on the primary breakline that occurs around 10'.
I read this thread on Sunday and it reminded me to do as the book says. I went out Monday, and of course went right to the primary breakline in search of my northerns. They were not there. I thought I might as well practice my shallow trolling and began by running a 400. Within minutes I caught an 15" LM Bass. I continued on and about a 1/4 mile I hooked landed a 35" northern. She came out of 4.5 fow. I continued on and caught 3 more northerns between 24" and 29".
Thanks for keeping my head in the game.
Dennis

Please tell me you stopped to cast the area when you hit that 15 incher?

Douglas,

Unfortunately, I did not stop and cast after the LMBass. I was in <4 fow and figured it was lately a "straggler". I have much to learn, so please bear with me. I truly appreciate the guidance.

On my pattern development post you added that the moral the story was "speed and depth". You are so dialed in on that. It was likely that I was not getting proper speed control with the spoonplug, but had it with the flicker shad. Thank you for opening my eyes. It's easy for a new guy to misinterpret results.

Regarding Tishigan lake: I have been posting my results on a popular fishing messaging board. I did not consider the consequence of having the masses of Bass Guys coming in. Thankfully, Tishigan does not have decent launches on it. A bit of a pain to get to. That said, I will follow your advise and keep it to the spoonpluggers.

I really appreciate any insights as I have not fished in over a dozen years and never did get spoonplugging figured out. Please share your opinions. I need that guidance.

Thanks soooo much.

Dennis

A LOT of people, including myself, when they start putting Spoonplugging into their fishing the first few seasons are spent trolling. Of course it's never JUST trolling. You're mapping with lures and learning so much about the lakes you used to fish that you are actually pretty busy.

The problem (not really but not sure what the right word is) is that just by trying to follow the guidelines - even if you're wrong most of the time, you are catching more fish than you ever have in your life. Because you are catching so many fish trolling its easy to forget about other things like drawing maps, finding line sights, and casting. Casting is the battle I have every fishing day.

When I started Spoonplugging I spent so much of my time trolling - never cast. I didn't realize it but I was in my 4th season before someone literally threw a 250 in my face and yelled at me to cast it. Boy was I pissed, until the lure was 1/2 way back to the boat on the first cast. I hooked a 7 pound walleye. Not really learning anything - I hadn't caught a bass casting a Spoonplug. So in my 5th season I was in someone else's boat and REALLY tired of getting yelled at by JB for not casting - I made a rule to cast EVERY spot I caught a bass. We caught a bass trolling and while my partner was unhooking his bass, I started casting. I caught 6 or 7 bass with no more than a cast or 2 in between fish.

My partner until recently never had a dedicated casting rod. If he caught a bass he'd just throw his lure he was trolling (nobo and all) at the area he dragged the fish from. I was laughing pretty hard at the 20' cast until I watched him catch 4 in a row.

Now I troll and cast. If I've trolled a while with no results - I put the trolling motor down and I start working the weed line, obvious point, or vertical jig the hole. I don't waste too much time and I am always picking up clues.

Douglas is absolutely a leader here and with much more experienced than I but when you caught that Bass - the first thing that should have come to mind was "why was that fish here?" and "How did the fish get there?" And "Where's the deeper water?". Douglass's question was much deeper. While there are some freak adult fish in the shallows, you can't presume that. It might have been there were 2 more or 300 more bass.

You can catch a lot of bass just trolling. One time we got 44 in a 45 minute span. I had the spot narrowed down to the size of a man hole cover. My partner refused to cast...This past June this same person who refused to cast - I warned him he was going to cast. He grudgingly said "yes". We weren't catching anything much trolling yet so I decided to drift through the deepest part of the whole vertical jigging a drop shot. Very reluctantly my partner started yanking big loping waves of slack in the line.

I had to retie my rig so I was watching him jig. On the 3rd bounce (first cast) of his lure I turned just in time to see him set the hook. It was a bass over 5 pounds and honestly the biggest bass I've seen this year since getting back from Lake St. Clair. Now this person and I cast a Lot.

Today when I get a bass, I drag its body in as fast as I can then I pick up the casting rod that is ready to go and I cast towards where the fish came from. I don't spend the day maybe 5 or 10 casts then I go right back to trolling. My numbers have gone up quite a bit.

Don't get distracted by the fish. And your doing really great. Those fish don't come by accident.

Thanks for the encouragement Fran. It helps.

Thank you again Douglas for sharing your experience and knowledge.

Dennis

ltharley wrote:Thanks for the encouragement Fran. It helps.

Thank you again Douglas for sharing your experience and knowledge.

Dennis

My pleasure, young man. Keep on slugging at 'em.
I remember Buck telling me, in the early days of 1963-1965..."boy, anytime you catch a large fish in shallow water, it usually means the limit of lunkers is in the reachable area. Get out that casting rod and start checking"